“ There is no other writer in the United States whose writings command so wide a circle of readers at home and abroad as Mrs. Barr's, and yet she is so much of a hermit that her personality is almost a mystery to the hundreds of thousands who are familiar with the creations of her intellect. ”

“ Most of her time is spent at Cherry Croft, her home on the top of Storm King Mountain, at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N. Y. There she lives with her daughters, happy in her literary work and her social surroundings, and almost worshiped by the dwellers on the mountain, who are frequent visitors at the hermitage. Her career has been an admirable illustration of the capacity of woman, under stress of sorrow, to conquer the world and win success. ”

“ Barr has published numerous stories. Scotland has furnished the scene of four of them; two have dealt with life in the English manufacturing districts. "The Border Shepherdess" (1887) lived in a long-debated territory between Scotland and England. "Feet of Clay" (1880) carried its readers to the Isle of Man. "Friend Olivia," a study of Quaker character, which appeared in 1890 in the "Century," recalled the closing years of the Commonwealth in England. "The Bow of Orange Ribbon" (1856) is a charming picture of life in New York in the days when Dutch manners and habits were still in their prime. ”